Duterte delays start of new school year
MANILA: President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte postponed the opening of the new school year 2020-2021 from Aug.24 to Oct. 5 as recommended by the Department of Education to cope with the problems posed by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, a senior Cabinet official announced on Friday.
In an online media briefing, Education Secretary Leonor Briones disclosed that Duterte approved her recommendation to defer the opening which she submited to Malacanang Palace on Aug. 8.
“We trust that this the final adjustment of the school opening. Even with the implementation of the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ), we will use this time to make the necessary adjustment and ensure that all preparations have been made for the successful opening of classes for schoolyear 2020-2021,” Briones said.
Duterte imposed the much stricter MECQ or lockdown on Metro Manila and four neighboring provinces — Cavite, Laguna and Rizal in Southern Luzon and Bulacan in Central Luzon — with effect from Aug.4 to Aug.18 based on appeal from about 100 groups of medical frontline workers for a “timeout” to enable the government to review its programmes and policies to prevent the rapid spread of the dreaded ailment.
Under MECQ, the government again imposed the ban on public transport like jeepneys and buses, opening of business establishments like barbershops and salons as well as limiting the movement of people especially the elderly and the young. Officials also noted that the rescheduling was made possible by a law signed recently by Duterte which allowed the opening of the schoolyear beyond August of every year due to the declaration of a state of emergency or calamity which, in this case, arose from COVID-19.
The education department has reported that a total of 23.2 million learners from both the public and private schools have enrolled for the new schoolyear. But earlier, Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, the former presidential assistant, joined his colleagues in calling on the government to postpone the opening of the new schoolyear from Aug.24 to October.
Go said the postponement would enable students, teachers, schools and education officials to have more time to prepare, citing the challenges the country continued to face due to the COVID-19.